


Useless Phrases

by trashyeggroll



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Closure, Dansen - Freeform, Dansen Babies, Drabble, F/F, Past Sanvers, angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-20 23:47:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21290171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashyeggroll/pseuds/trashyeggroll
Summary: Maggie Sawyer picks up a shift to help police National City on Halloween, and the night's events bring her face to face with Alex Danvers for the first time in years.
Relationships: Alex Danvers & Maggie Sawyer, Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen
Comments: 14
Kudos: 105





	Useless Phrases

**Author's Note:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

While she didn’t need the overtime pay, Detective Maggie Sawyer didn’t mind volunteering to help her fellow officers deal with the impish chaos of Halloween in National City.

It was a different kind of busy than the usual alien and metahuman battles. Less property damage for sure, and  _ much _ less collateral destruction for infrastructure and bystanders. Baddies in National City tended to not wait for special holidays to enact their villainous plans—they just went ahead and hit Go. Instead, police usually spent the spooky night chasing down teenagers with spraycans, drunk college kids getting in absurd fights (classics included epic matchups like Caesar vs Psy and Hillary Clinton vs a giant beer can), and other distinctly non-powered shenanigans. It was refreshing, honestly.

And that was why Maggie was feeling mostly footloose and fancy free as she strolled downtown, eyes sweeping the droves of costumed revelers. Shops, restaurants, and galleries had their doors open for Trick-or-Treaters, storefronts decorated with blinking bat lights, Jack-o-Lanterns, skeletons and fake spiderwebs. Maggie wasn’t wearing a costume, technically, but since she wore plainclothes as a detective, the last time she’d donned her street blues was to attend a promotion ceremony for the new head of the homicide division, so it just felt a little odd and costume-esque, for lack of a better way to describe her mild discomfort in the heavily starched uniform. Otherwise, she hadn’t had to respond to any serious incidents for her shift thus far, so she’d made sure to enjoy the laid back evening with lots of people-watching while it lasted. 

Which… wasn’t very long—as soon as the demographics of the holiday celebrants began transitioning from kids and their parents to the barhopping crowd, Maggie’s police radio crackled with ever-increasing traffic: fender benders from idiots driving with costumes over their faces, zombies overturning a city dumpster, the first scuffles of the night, and a carjacking. That last one was apparently enough of an event that Supergirl herself responded on the channel, and a few seconds later, Maggie saw a streak of red and blue zipping between skyscrapers above her head. Of course, she’d already seen  _ dozens _ of Supergirls that night, and the effect was almost humorous. 

The detective scolded a couple teens off of taking all the candy from a bowl left on a stoop, and then she officially took her first call of the night—backup for a burglary at Whole Foods. Someone had thrown a brick through a window, and on the way out (with what was likely a tasty haul), had pointed a gun at several passersby, then fled on foot. The fact that several families heading home with their children had witnessed the incident made Maggie’s blood boil, but as she drove with sirens to the scene, dispatch reported Supergirl had already picked up the suspected culprit, too—so at least, there would be  _ some _ justice. 

When she pulled up to the grocery store, half the parking lot had already been partitioned off with crime scene tape, and Maggie had to slowly roll through a crowd of costumed gawkers and a couple news crews before she could park her department vehicle. The officer in charge directed her to help take witness statements, as there were a couple dozen waiting around. It was worth the effort to make sure they had the right offender and were able to make a strong case against him, and Maggie definitely didn’t mind continuing her evening of simple, old-fashioned policework. 

Her third interview was with a little girl, who’d luckily not had a gun waved in her face, but saw the burglar fleeing moments later, according to the first responder who brought Maggie up to speed. The detective found the kid sitting on a woman’s lap on the curb, looking a bit overwhelmed with the flashing lights and commotion, but not panicked or upset. She was dressed as a scientist or doctor maybe, her hair in two puffs above her forehead, the rest in beaded twists that clicked softly when she turned her head, and wearing adorable little scrubs and white lab jacket with obviously fake plastic glasses on her round face. Maggie assumed the beautiful woman holding her was her mother—they had the same big brown eyes and mirror taut, concerned expressions, but the adult was dressed as Princess Leia from Star Wars, with the earmuff buns and flowy white dress. Just another absurd part of working Halloween. 

“Hi, I’m Detective Sawyer,” said Maggie, squatting to be at eye level with the child and her parent and offering her best nonthreatening smile. “I’m just gonna ask you a few questions, and then you can go home, all right?”

“Okay,” hiccupped the little girl, while Mom nodded and seemed to at least partially relax. 

“There’s no reason to be scared, I promise. What’s your name? How old are you?” 

The kid studied her before responding, and whatever she needed, she seemed to find it, because her voice strengthened when she answered, “Vivian, but everyone calls me Vivi. I’m six.” 

“Thanks for helping me, Vivi. It’s really brave of you.” Maggie pulled out her notebook, flipping it to a random blank page and dating the top line. “So, I heard you saw someone running away from the grocery store. Is that right?”

Vivi nodded and nervously adjusted her glasses in such a very specific way that Maggie’s stomach twisted, and her ears heated. It’d been nearly a decade since she’d seen it in person, but Kara Danvers had done it so often in the time they’d known each other that it was impossible to forget. The familiar effect was so surprising and confusing that the detective let the silence drag for too long, and the mother shifted, as if to catch her attention. 

“Sorry,” Maggie coughed, mentally kicking herself for being off her game. “Vivi, can you tell me what the person looked like? Hair color, clothes, anything like that?”

“I didn’t see their face. They were wearing a mask, and they were running  _ really _ fast,” said the six-year-old with the excited intensity of describing a movie. It made Maggie smile reflexively. “But they were wearing everything black, and they had a big black trash bag, like The Grinch but a trash bag.”

Despite the minimal useful information there, the fact that the description remained consistent and matched what others had said so far helped bolster the assumption that they had the right person in custody. Maggie loved a straightforward case. 

“Did I do good?” The little girl stage-whispered to her mom as Maggie stood and tucked her notebook in her uniform shirt pocket. 

“You did great,” the detective replied, and Vivian smiled up at her proudly. “Just one more thing, Mom or Vivi—what’s your last name?”

The Princess Leia was just about to reply when an approaching voice suddenly grew loud enough that it clearly meant the speaker was right behind her, and still moving. When the voice registered, Maggie’s entire body went rigid, adrenaline flooding her veins. 

“...out of here soon, Kara and Lena are waiting for us at the house.” 

All the air left Maggie’s lungs as she turned, and there was  _ Alex Danvers  _ in the flesh, instantly recognizable despite her Han Solo costume. Her hair was no longer dyed that deep red it always used to be, cut in a rakish fade that was just her natural dark blonde, and now with stately streaks of gray at her temples. She was also, undoubtedly, as handsome as ever—but the problem with that thought became instantly clear as Alex rushed right past her to the child and her mother, and the rest of the puzzle pieces fell into place. 

“We’re okay,” she heard the other woman say, and Alex kissed her forehead, then the kid’s, and Maggie wanted nothing more than to turn and flee. She remembered her visceral pain upon seeing the marriage announcement in the paper: Alex Danvers and  _ Kelly Olsen. _ That was the name of the gorgeous woman on the curb, and it’d taken at least a couple nights of unhealthy coping mechanisms to shake the deep loneliness the news had seeded in her stomach all those years ago. 

“Maggie?” 

Too late. The detective’s heart was pounding in her ears as she realized Alex was looking at her now, with one arm still around her  _ family _ and a shocked expression on her face.

“Maggie… Sawyer,” said Kelly Olsen, slowly, with a dawning realization of her own spreading across her face.

“Hi.” Maggie’s voice came out as a croak, and she offered a weak, tiny wave. “Sorry, I didn’t… I didn’t realize…” She cleared her throat. 

Alex stood, and her hands lifted briefly from her side, as if she were about to offer a hug, and then decided against it. “This is, it’s, um, been a really long time… How are you?” 

The detective’s eyes flickered to Kelly and Vivian, who were looking up at Alex, then back to Alex’s honey brown ones. They were maddeningly inscrutable.

How was she doing? Up until the last few minutes, Maggie had been perfectly happy: She had a dream loft in the city with a stunning view. With a promotion to lieutenant and her savings over her career, she had enough money and vacation time to take indulgent trips to places she’d always wanted to visit, like Thailand and Indonesia and Hong Kong. She lived her life as she pleased, coming and going, meeting women, taking them into her bed when the chemistry was right. She’d had a few longish-term girlfriends in the time since her aborted engagement to Alex Danvers, but nobody had inspired her to such commitment in the ensuing years. And for the most part, she had  _ thought _ she was fine with that. 

But her chest was still tight with an old ache as she replied, “Great. I’m great. Don’t worry about the outfit, I’m just helping out the unis tonight.” 

Alex’s eyes softened with an unsaid understanding, and she nodded. Somehow, that reaction made the pain worse. Alex knew that was as much as Maggie could manage, but it wasn’t an act of acrimony. Despite the fact that their relationship had often been rocky, Alex had always understood her on a seemingly instinctive level; they could exchange a glance across a crowded room and have an entire conversation. Maggie still felt that magnetic draw, as powerful and yet imperceptible as the tug of the moon on the ocean tides. But Alex had another life now, and so did she. They didn’t need to try to cycle through useless phrases acknowledging anything from the short life they’d shared together, seemingly forever ago. That life was pure memory now, even if the ache felt very real. 

“This is my wife, Kelly Olsen,” Alex continued, a little stiff, but kind. “And our daughter, Vivi.”

“Yeah, I was just taking a quick witness statement,” replied the detective lightly. “Sounds like Supergirl’s taken him off the street, at least. And, more importantly, it’s nice to meet you both.”

Kelly stood now, Vivi clinging to her slender shoulders, and Maggie could clearly see the similarities to James Olsen in her features and polite smile. “Likewise. Thank you for being gentle with her.” Kelly patted Vivi’s back to emphasize who she meant, and then lowered her voice to add, “I think she’s feeling better now.”

“Beautiful kid. Congratulations.” Maggie swallowed a lump in her throat when she looked back at Alex. “I am ninety-nine percent sure she won’t need to give any more interviews or testimony. This is pretty open and shut, so.”

“That’s good to know, I was worried. Thanks again,” replied Alex, and she smiled as Kelly passed Vivi to her arms, letting the kid bury her face in her shoulder. 

They truly were a beautiful family, that much was obvious despite the costumes. Knowing Alex was happy  _ did _ in fact make her feel better, because at the end of the day, it hadn’t been for lack of love that they parted ways.  _ That _ reason was currently koala-beared around Alex, objectively adorable, but even now, Maggie knew that if she were part of the picture instead of Kelly Olsen, she wouldn’t be looking at Vivi with the deep adoration on her mothers’ faces. She doubted she would have even stuck around in the kid’s life for six years. She knew this about herself, and she continued to be confident about that truth. 

And that was how Maggie comforted herself when they exchanged friendly goodbyes, not bothering with empty suggestions to catch up sometime. When they’d first met and gotten to know each other, Alex Danvers had been struggling, confused about who and what she wanted in life, contending with basically a second teenagedom in her adulthood. This Alex Danvers was confident, relaxed, and  _ happy.  _ She was aglow with it, and so was her wife, as they walked away talking to their daughter. They all deserved to live these thriving lives they’d built, Maggie’s in one way and Alex’s in a very different one, and because the detective still cared for her, seeing Alex like this was consoling, in its own way: Calling off the engagement had been the right thing to do for someone she loved, making way for the joy Alex could experience now. Love was confusing and weird like that, sometimes. 

When the trio disappeared from view, Maggie heard dispatch say her call sign over the radio, and she took a moment to shake off the last few minutes, and then answered that she was on her way to the next scene, a bar brawl. That kind of action would definitely help her get back to living free and happy, too, and after hurrying back to her vehicle, Maggie turned on her sirens as she drove off into the night. 

**Author's Note:**

> yell at me on tumblr [@trashyeggroll](https://trashyeggroll.tumblr.com/)


End file.
